Hurricane Cindy
Hurricane Cindy was the second Category 5 Hurricane to make landfall on the United States as a Category 5 storm after Hurricane Danielle in 2022, since Hurricane Andrew in 1992, much like Hurricane Andrew, Hurricane Cindy made landfall in almost the same exact spot as Hurricane Andrew. Except Hurricane Cindy's landfall was just south of the city of Miami. The Hurricane struck Miami with 175-mph winds and a peak official storm surge of up to 27-feet on September 2, 2023. The hurricane nearly flattened everything along the coast of Miami-Dade County. The storm formed as a tropical wave off the coast of Senegal on August 24 slowly moving across the Atlantic before becoming a Category-2 storm on August 30, then eventually strengthening into a Category-5 storm with 190-mph winds and a central pressure of 893mb. The storm made landfall at Coconut Grove on September 2, 2023 in the early morning hours during the high-tide and managed to cause $230-Billion in damages leaving roughly 40% of the city homeless. Hurricane Cindy was the only major hurricane of the 2023 Atlantic Hurricane Season after, the devastating 2022 Atlantic Hurricane Season which saw 6 major hurricanes, including 3 separate category five storms (Danielle, Julia, and Lisa). Meteorological History The storm first formed as a tropical wave off the coast of Senegal on August 24, 2023 the strom was originally a slow-moving storm heading west-southwest for the next two days before changing course to west then west-northwest. The storm continued on as a tropical depression from 2pm on August 24 before being upgraded to a tropical depression on 8pm on August 25, the storm continued to travel westward at a fairly moderate pace and continued to strengthen rather slowly. By 8pm on August 28, the storm was still an tropical and two hours later on 10pm the storm was upgraded to a Category 1 Hurricane as it was traveling west-northwest at 13 mph. It would only take roughly 10 hours for the storm to be upgraded to a Category-2 Hurricane at 8am on August 29, then another 12 hours to be upgraded to a Category-3 storm becoming the season's first major hurricane with winds of 115 mph and an central pressure of 967mb. The storm continued to intensify moving at a speed of 12-15 mph eventually slowing down once it hit just north of the Caribbean. The storm would eventually become a Category-4 storm on August 30 at 8am with wind speeds of 145-mph and a central pressure of 964mb, before slowing down to 7-10 mph and by 2am on August 31 the storm would eventually hit Category-5 status with winds of 165 mph and a central pressure of 910mb before passing right over the Inagua Islands weakening it into a very temporary Cateogry-4 storm with winds of 155 mph and a central pressure of 915mb. However, this was only temporary as the storm quickly started restrengthening again hitting it's peak strength of 190 mph winds with a central pressure of 893mb on September 1 at 2am as it began curving northward towards the western coast of The Bahamas before starting to turn west again making landfall just south of the City of Miami. After making landfall on Coconut Grove, Florida with an 11 mile wide eye and maximum wind diameter of just 15 miles and hurricane force winds extending just 60 miles, the storm traveled overland weakening to a Category-3 storm with 120-mph winds once it exited out the other side of Florida out into the warm open waters of the Gulf of Mexico where the storm began to increase in size while strangely not increasing much in intensity. The storm went from being 260-miles in width when it exited Florida to being about 600-miles wide by the time it would make landfall again on Louisiana with 145-mph winds and a central pressure of 944mb. The storm would make it's second landfall just 45-miles west of the mouth of the Mississippi with a 40-mile wide eye, traveling up the Mississippi river striking the western half of New Orleans weakening to a Category-1 storm by the time it would hit Baton Rouge before becoming just a tropical storm then weakening into a tropical depression where it would merge with a cold front and hook northward into Canada where it would eventually die off. Preparations When the forecast was released on the evening of August 31 that a hurricane of Category-5 intensity a mandatory evacuation was ordered along the entire coastal areas and most of Miami-Dade County roughly, 1,800,000 people had to be evacuated from their homes and head north up the peninsula. Evacuation orders took place immediately starting around 8pm on August 31, all incoming flights to Miami International Airport were suspended and all planes were to take as many people out as possible over the next 24 hours before the storm was forecasted to hit around midnight on September 2. Forecasters were predicting winds of up to 170-180 mph in the downtown section of Miami, with storm surges or up to 20 to 30 feet. In The Bahamas, preparation began with the boarding up of windows. In Louisiana along the Mississippi River all the way just past New Orleans levees were strengthened and sandbagged all along the river. Impact and Damage Impacts on Florida Impacts on the Miami Metropolitan Area When the hurricane struck the coast of Southeastern Florida it brought with it winds as high as 175 mph gusting to as high as 220 mph and a storm surge as high as 24-feet. A storm surge of 19.2 feet was reported at Miami Beach. Storm surges in Florida were reported as high as 24.2-feet in Brickell just south of Downtown Miami which coincidentally also happened to be Miami's most densely populated neighborhood, where 35,000 people happened to live in an area of just 1.2-sqmi. Storm surges of 10+ feet were reported from as far south as Black Creek and as far north as almost Delray Beach a distance of just under 65-miles. The wide spread destruction caused by the wide massive storm surges happened to leave the homes of roughly 860,000 people almost uninhabitable while the winds destroyed the homes of another 600,000. Leaving 1,460,000 people homeless. About 69-square miles of land were completely destroyed except for well built well reinforced buildings mainly along Miami Beach and the City of Miami. The National Guard and the Seabees were called in immediate to assess and repair the damage. Storm surges of 15 or more feet were reported from Thalatta Bay all the way to just south of Fort Lauderdale a distance of about 35 miles, and storm surges of 20-feet or greater were reported along the coast from just south of the eye to Golden Beach a distance just over 25-miles. The wide spread destruction in the city of Miami Alone was estimated at over $100-Billion dollars. The total damage to the Miami Metropolitan Area was estimated at $260-Billion. Impacts on Louisiana In Thiboudaux winds of 130-mph to 140-mph were reported. In Baton Rouge many government offices operated on auxiliary power. Impacts on New Orleans Hurricane Cindy slammed into New Orleans on the early morning hours of September 4, 2023. 110 mph winds were reported with gusts up to as high as 150-mph causing widespread power failures all throughout the city. The eye of the storm passed just southwest of the city on a northeastward track. The northern and western eye-walls covered Southeast Louisiana and New Orleans from about 8am until 4pm the morning of September 4. In Thiboudaux winds of 130-mph to 140-mph were reported. Cindy also drove a storm surge into Lake Pontchatrain, just north of New Orleans, and the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, a deep-water shipping channel to the east and south. Levees for the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet along Florida Avenue in the Lower Ninth Ward and on both sides of the Industrial Canal failed. The flood water reached the eaves of houses in some places and over some one story roofs in the Lower Ninth Ward. Some residents drowned in their attics trying to escape the rising waters, those who had chosen to stay behind. These levee breaches flooded parts of Gentilly, the Upper Ninth Ward, and the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans as well as Arabi and Chalmette in neighboring St. Bernard Parish. It took almost two whole entire weeks before the water level in New Orleans went down enough for people to return to their homes. It took almost three whole entire months to restore their houses to a livable condition. About 238,000 homes were flooded by the second landfall after Florida. Florida Landfall Louisiana Landfall Category:Florida Hurricanes Category:Caribbean storms Category:Cape Verde type Category:Category 5 hurricanes Category:Costly storms Category:Deadly storms